As in the anteroom – a pilgrim that makes up the awaiting of the main piece

BERSIH and Carbon Tax

9 July has come and gone. Tress and I were with close to a thousand others at the Federation Square on Saturday afternoon, for a rally to demand some electoral reforms in Malaysia. We went with Brian, a good mate of mine who in turn introduced us to another bloke, who was also a lot of fun. The BERSIH rally in Melbourne was no where near as eventful as the KL version, but the KL folks showed the BN government it needs to take a serious look at itself or it is going to be sitting at the opposition side of the house come the next election. At the very least, BERSIH 2.0 has stripped BN off whatever claim to legitimacy it has left. Najib Razak can barely stand with any credibility and he has his mob has come out of this looking really rubbish. Well done BERSIH, well done, Ambiga.

On the domestic front, Bob Brown, Christine Milne and their mob have flexed their muscles and Julia Gillard continues to look worse by the day. All the compensatory aspects of the scheme may sit well for now for a group of voters but how will employment and foreign investment be affected over time? I don’t think Julia Gillard will be able to make the sale to the people in that regard. I think for most Australians, compensation is only a small part of it. What we want is assurance that jobs and investments and growths of these will not be adversely impacted, especially given the minimal impact the carbon tax will have on climate change.